Meet the team

Core team

Benjamin Todd

CEO and co-founder

Ben managed 80,000 Hours while it grew from a lecture, to a student society, to the organisation it is today. Before 80,000 Hours, he was the first undergraduate to intern as an analyst at a top investment fund. He has a 1st from Oxford in Physics and Philosophy, has published in Climate Physics, once kick-boxed for Oxford, and speaks Chinese, badly.

Prof. Will MacAskill

Co-founder and President

In 2009, Will co-founded Giving What We Can, a leading charity evaluator that has raised over $400m in pledged donations to effective charities and advised the UK government, World Bank, Oxfam among others. In 2011, he co-founded 80,000 Hours with Ben. Currently an Associate Professor of moral philosophy at Oxford, Will has pledged to give over half his income to charity, and is the author of Doing Good Better.

Rob Wiblin

Director of Research

Rob won a scholarship to study genetics and economics at the Australian National University, graduating top of his class and being named Young Alumnus of the Year in 2015. He then worked as a research economist in various Australian Government agencies, before moving to the UK to work at CEA, where he worked as Research Director and Executive Director before moving to 80,000 Hours. He was also a founding board member of Animal Charity Evaluators and a member of the WEF's Young Global Shapers Community.

Roman Duda

Director of Content

Roman did a fully-funded Masters in Philosophy at Oxford, during which he also consulted for a major energy company on their business strategy, whilst also studying Mandarin Chinese. With a strong interest in Quantified Self, he has worked at the start-ups Memrise and Self Spark.

Peter McIntyre

Director of Coaching

After pursuing clinical medicine, Peter worked with the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute before coming to 80,000 Hours. Peter co-founded Effective Altruism Australia, a tax-deductible charity that in its first 2 years has raised over $1.5 million for effective charities, founded a mobile phone repairs company, and managed a large sales team at the age of 18.

Dr Brenton Mayer

Co-head of Coaching

Brenton came to 80,000 Hours after practicing clinical medicine in Australia and Fiji. He co-founded the Run to Better Days and Effective Altruism Australia, non-profits promoting effective development aid for people living in extreme poverty. He once represented his city in table tennis and takes the sport way too seriously.

Peter Hartree

Tech Lead & Web Product Manager

Peter has been making things for the web for 15 years. Prior to 80,000 Hours, his nonprofit clients included the Electrical Safety Council, the Child Safety Trust and the Ruya Foundation. His side projects include running a coworking space and developing Inbox When Ready, a Chrome extension with thousands of weekly active users. He studied Philosophy at the University of Sussex, graduating with a 1st and two awards for academic achievement.

María Gutiérrez Rojas

Freelance graphic designer

María works as a remote, freelance graphic designer based in Costa Rica. In 2014, she graduated from NYU Tisch’s Film and TV program with a concentration in traditional hand-drawn animation, and received several scholarships from The Art Student’s League of NY, where she studied representational painting and drawing. María also works on developing an organization which generates and evaluates projects of measurable social value in Costa Rica.

Nadine van der Waal

Freelance social media and marketing

Nadine worked in marketing and growth hacking in several startups in the Netherlands, including Ahoka, Breekjaar, Vacatures Starters and Little Talks.

Centre For Effective Altruism staff who assist 80,000 Hours

Tara Mac Aulay

Chief Operating Officer

Tara received a graduate degree in Health Economics and a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Monash University with first class Honours. She joins CEA fresh from the field, after visiting 33 countries for work and travel. On her most recent assignment, Tara worked on redesigning oncology care in Bhutan with the Australian Red Cross.

She has a background in healthcare consulting where she developed efficiency improvements saving 2 million dollars and countless lives in Australian hospitals.

Julia Wise

Community Liaison

Julia studied sociology at Bryn Mawr College and worked in donor services at Oxfam America before becoming a social worker. She serves on the board of GiveWell. She writes about effective altruism at Giving Gladly. She organizes an effective altruism group in Boston.

Miranda Dixon-Luinenburg

Operations Manager, US branch

Miranda is a former ICU nurse from Canada. She traveled to several continents as a logistics volunteer with the Centre for Applied Rationality, and eventually married an Australian whom she met at a workshop and moved to San Francisco in 2015.

Our Advisors

Dr Nick Beckstead

Trustee

Nick is a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute, and wrote his PhD thesis on how ordinary efforts to do good neglect the crucial importance of the long-run future. We find his analysis and feedback invaluable.

Dr Jess Whittlestone

Research advisor

After studying Maths and Philosophy at Oxford, Jess played an invaluable role in our team developing our coaching process and research. Now she’s studying for a PhD in Behavioural Science supervised by Nick Chater - an expert in evidence-based policy.

Dr Niel Bowerman

Advisor

Niel has six years of experience in climate advocacy, during which he was on Obama’s 2008 Environment Policy Team, advisor to the President of the Maldives, founder of Climatico and named a Young Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum.

Dr Owen Cotton-Barratt

Research advisor

Owen has a PhD in pure mathematics from Oxford. He has published in several disciplines and now works as a Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute. We turn to him when we need to vet some tricky analysis.

Sebastian Farquhar

Advisor

After studying Physics and Philosophy at Oxford, Seb wrote the first ever statement of effective altruism and led our early market development and research work. Now he’s working at McKinsey & Co., a strategy consultancy, and focusing on policy and health.

Dr Toby Ord

Trustee

Toby is a Fellow of Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute, an expert in global prioritisation, and has been repeatedly covered in the international media for promoting cost-effective philanthropy and founding Giving What We Can.

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We're affiliated with the University of Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute and the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.

We're part of the Centre for Effective Altruism, and work closely with Giving What We Can.

80,000 Hours is part of the Centre for Effective Altruism, a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1149828) and a registered 501(c)(3) Exempt Organization in the USA (EIN 47-1988398).

We do our best to provide useful information, but how you use the information is up to you. We don’t take responsibility for any loss that results from the use of information on the site. Please consult our full legal disclaimer and privacy policy.

80,000 Hours is part of the Centre for Effective Altruism, a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1149828) and a registered 501(c)(3) Exempt Organization in the USA (EIN 47-1988398).

We do our best to provide useful information, but how you use the information is up to you. We don’t take responsibility for any loss that results from the use of information on the site. Please consult our full legal disclaimer and privacy policy.